I appreciate exceptional service. As a frequent traveler, it is truly rare to come across someone who goes above and beyond…and delivers the unexpected. I’m writing from Memphis, where last evening I presented a workshop on Entrepreneurial Optometry to the student body of Southern College of Optometry. One of the key topics of my program is how important it is for professionals and their teams to deliver an exceptional patient experience; an experience that transcends the tangible medical and eyewear elements of the patient interaction. Indeed, if you think about your own personal experiences, it is rare that it’s the actual product that delivers the WOW…but more likely it’s the result of exceptional service delivery. It is these “touch points” that create the opportunity for businesses to separate themselves from the pack.
I had two notable service experiences in Memphis. The first was at the Hampton Inn near Beale Street, one of my favorite hotel chains. As I jumped into my shower before leaving for my workshop, with little time to spare, I found that there was neither soap nor shampoo in the bathroom. Luckily, I carry my own emergency supply. On my way out I stopped at the front desk. I informed the attendant of the problem and asked for them to place some supplies in my room. Without an apology, the front desk manager responded, “Sir, housekeeping has gone for the day. Please stop on your way back and we’ll give you what you need.”
While ostensibly solving the problem, reality is that I was underwhelmed. I asked myself why I should have to put forth any effort to solve their mistake. My expectation was different…why couldn’t they send someone to my room to place the products where they should have been in the first place? When I returned to the hotel at 10:30pm, I went to the front desk and the attendant dug around in the closets to provide me with my needs. No big deal. But it was just not the exceptional service that I have come to expect from Hampton Inns.
Now the rest of the story is that when I went to my room, there on my sink was a nice blue bag with the supplies that I had requested. My immediate reaction was that the hotel missed an opportunity. Why did they tell me one thing and do another? Why not originally resolve the issue with “I’m so sorry. I’ll see to it that the supplies get to your room immediately.” And then they could have left me a cookie. Now that would have been a WOW!
The inverse of this experience occurred when I dropped my car off at Alamo. As I was removing my luggage from my trunk, the bus driver came out of his vehicle and walked over to me (about 50’) and asked me “may I take your bags.” I was completely surprised by his action. In all my years of travel, I’ve never had a rental car bus driver come over to my vehicle to offer help. Needless to say, Jean, the bus driver for Alamo/National at the Memphis International Airport, got a big tip and a resounding “thank you” from me in front of all the other passengers. I shared with Jean the fact that no one, not a single driver in hundreds of experiences that I’ve had, had ever left his vehicle to walk across a parking lot to help me.
Jean…you get it. And I hope that your supervisors at Alamo recognize your impact on their business.
Thanks for delivering the unexpected.
I am glad Memphis at least halfway met your expectations, and i throughly enjoyed your presentation and have not stopped talking about it since. I was so excited it re-wrote my essay that same night. Continue to give back to us student and you will be rewarded.
Posted by: Adam Ramsey | September 25, 2010 at 12:35 AM